Blood, Sweat and Tears
by Moonwanderer
Summary: There's a new DADA teacher at Hogwarts. It's Harry's 6th year and Voldemort is still at large. What's this teacher like, and how does this teacher know Snape?? ***UPDATED*** Read it and let me know what you think, please. Thanx.
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters, except for Lysia Moonwanderer (she's mine). I don't own any of the trademarks either. They belong to Warner Brothers and J.K. Rowling. This story is written purely for the enjoyment of myself and other HP fans and I have no intention of making any money from it.  
  
***AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story takes place in Harry's 6th year. Please review!! This is my first 'published' fanfic, and I'd like to know if it sounds any good to this point. THANX!!  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
For most, it was just an average evening at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For one Lysia Moonwanderer, however, it was the first day of many which she would be spending in the castle. Albus Dumbledore had allowed her to teach in the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts, despite a distinct lack of teaching experience. She did have a lot experience in the Dark Arts, though, what with her unintentional dealings over the past year with Voldemort and his 'armada' of Death Eaters.  
  
She had been corresponding with Dumbledore since Voldemort had risen once more (a little over a year ago) because she had been approached by the Death Eaters to join their ranks. After a flat refusal, she had been subjected to the Cruciatus curse until she'd lost consciousness. While Lysia had been unconscious, Voldemort had given her the Dark Mark on her left forearm. Quite different to the mark on Voldemort's true Death Eaters' arms hers was, though, as it was inscribed with a dagger and then put under a spell so that it would never fully heal (leaving her with a vivid scar of a skull with a snake tongue).  
  
  
  
Now, for her protection as well as the students, she was the new teacher. Lysia hoped that she would at least recognise someone other than Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, whom she had met shortly after her appointment to the position. Shortly before getting to the Great Hall, she had seen several horseless carriages through a window, trundling towards the castle. "Good," she thought, "at least I won't have to make my entrance in front of the entire school." Lysia approached the High Table. Most of the seats were occupied, three were not. Glancing quickly up and down the table, she noticed a very short man (obviously sitting on cushions), a dark-haired, sombre-looking man, a lady with fly-away hair and Dumbledore, sitting at the centre of the table.  
  
Lysia opened her mouth to greet Dumbledore, but closed it as her brow knitted in concentration. "No... It couldn't be..." Her heart began to beat a little harder as she quickly looked back down the table. Her mouth opened slightly as her eyes rested on the dark-haired man once again. Sitting in front of her was Severus Snape, a man she knew all too well.  
  
Remembering where she was, Lysia shook herself out of her reverie and greeted Dumbledore. 'Dumbledore,' she said, inclining her head slightly as she shook hands with the Headmaster.  
  
'Ah, Professor Moonwanderer,' he replied. Turning to his associates, he introduced her to his companions, 'I would like you to meet Professor Lysia Moonwanderer. She will taking up the Defence Against the Dark Arts post this year, and I'm sure you will all do your best to make her welcome, while she is with us.' To Lysia he said, 'Come, have a seat,' and motioned to a seat on his right. It was the seat next to Severus Snape.  
  
She moved to the other side of the High Table and proceeded to the seat indicated to her by the Headmaster, being greeted by various teachers along the way. When she reached her seat, Lysia sat down and reached for the goblet in front of her.  
  
'Lysia,' said a voice to her right.  
  
'Severus,' she replied, without turning around. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she spoke again. 'I didn't know you taught here.'  
  
'You never asked.'  
  
"Of course I didn't - I was always under the impression that you spent your time otherwise indisposed," she thought, but to him, she said, 'So. What do you teach?'  
  
'Potions.'  
  
'Ah.'  
  
Silence.  
  
'I'm also the head of one of the houses.'  
  
'Oh? Which one?'  
  
'Slytherin.'  
  
More silence.  
  
'It's been a while, Severus,' she said quietly.  
  
'Yes,' he replied, just as quietly, 'it has.' He paused before adding, 'How have you been holding up?'  
  
'Oh, not too badly. Things could always be better, I suppose, but there's not much we can do about that,' she said with a small smile.  
  
Before their conversation could continue, however, the Great Hall flooded with students in varying states of excitement. As there was so much noise emanating from the students who were now sitting down at the four long tables in front of them, there was little point in continuing the small talk and so the two sat in relative silence and waited for the Sorting Ceremony to begin.  
  
Soon, the sound of the door at the entrance to the Great Hall opening was heard about the talk and in strode a witch in her middle-ages dressed in magnificent green velvet robes. The woman was followed by a group of about forty boys and girls, most looking as though they were about to be pushed off of the top of a very high cliff. As they approached the High Table, a man entered from a door to the left.  
  
This man was (there is no other word for it) huge. If her mind hadn't been so preoccupied, Lysia would have quite taken aback. As it was, her mind WAS preoccupied, and so paid the large, bushy-haired man no attention whatsoever. Her head was so full of racing thoughts that she completely missed the sorting ceremony itself, and the poem recited by the sorting hat was said to be one of the best yet (throughout which Lysia sat with a seemingly lost look about her).  
  
In no time at all, the plates on the tables filled with food, and Lysia, suddenly awakening from her trance-like state, jumped slightly, completely surprised that the ceremony was over. This proved a laughing point for teachers and students alike, as they mistook her surprise to be for the appearance of the food. She made a mental note to keep her mind on the here and now when in the company of others as Dumbledore stood to make a few start of term notices.  
  
"Well, I WAS thinking of the here and now, although it WAS in relation to events in the past., but it was definitely about here and now," she thought, thereby nearly missing her introduction from Dumbledore. Smiling and inclining her head to the students, Lysia mentally kicked herself and reminded herself to pay attention.  
  
'...and I would like to remind all students that the Forbidden Forest is strictly out of bounds to all students,' he finished. Professor Dumbledore sat back down, and pretty soon, the Hall was once again filled with the chatter of young voices as the students continued with their meals. Lysia contented herself with a small plate of salad and ate in silence. Having extremely sensitive hearing, she overheard parts conversations -  
  
'...but look at her!! She can't be more than 19!!'  
  
'...is her hair... BLUE?!'  
  
'I've heard that she...'  
  
She smiled to herself and took a large sip of her drink.  
  
'Are you feeling alright, Lysia?' inquired a voice to her left. Lysia turned to find that the inquiry had come from Professor McGonagall.  
  
'Oh yes,' she replied with a smile, 'my mind is just on other things. Thank you,' she added as an after-thought.  
  
With a nod, the professor turned back to Dumbledore and picked up a conversation. Having finished her salad, Lysia moved her plate aside, placed her elbows on the table, leaned her head on top of the fist from her right hand and stared out in front of her, lost in thought.  
  
'Lysia?'  
  
'Huh?' she exclaimed, jolting back to reality. Professor Snape was looking at her with a slightly exasperated expression on his face.  
  
'Did you hear a single word I just said to you?'  
  
'You were speaking to me?' Judging by the look on his face, Lysia guessed that indeed he had been, and an apology might not go amiss. 'Sorry. Thinking,' she said and looked away.  
  
Shaking his head, Severus continued, 'I was saying that as I am to be "escorting" you to your room, perh-' he stopped mid-word as he looked at her face. Her skin had lost any trace of colour, her eyes were closed and she was looking as though she was trying to control her breathing.  
  
'Lysia? Lysia, are you okay?'  
  
Just as he was about to alert Dumbledore, Lysia exhaled sharply and visibly relaxed. The colour began to return to her face and Severus noticed that she now had a fairly strong grip on her left forearm.  
  
'Are you okay?' he asked again. This time she turned to him and nodded weakly.  
  
'Mmm. Just tired,' she lied. "Now why did I go do that? He probably saw right through that little story. He knows exactly what's wrong with me- I have no reason to lie! Then again, there are still quite a few people within earshot..." 'Perhaps we could call it a night. I could do with some sleep. If you don't mind, that is,' she added hastily.  
  
'No, not at all.' And with that he got up and walked over to Dumbledore and whispered in his ear, 'Professor Moonwanderer wishes to go to her quarters as she is extremely tired. I take it that we may be excused?'  
  
'Of course, Severus, by all means. And do pass on my disappointment that she is not feeling well enough for desert.'  
  
'As you wish, Headmaster.' He returned to Lysia and said to her, 'Come on, let's get you to bed before you collapse on us.' Lysia stood up and followed Snape out of the Great Hall through a door to the right of the High Table. They moved through the castle in silence as neither could think of anything to say to the other. Lysia made the most of this silence by studying the pictures on the walls. Severus, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly annoyed because his charge kept stopping to have conversations with the subjects of paintings.  
  
After the tenth stop he'd had enough. 'Look. If you wanted to talk to the paintings, you should have shown up earlier. Now can we please get a move on? The feast will be over shortly and we'll have to compete with a load of students.'  
  
'Sorry,' Lysia replied, a little sheepishly. 'Nice to meet you,' she said to the painting she had just been talking to and followed Snape as they moved off once again. A few hallways and a couple of magical staircases later, they arrived at a set of marvellous oak doors, polished to within an inch of their lives, so that they shone as if they were covered in water.  
  
'Isthmus,' muttered Snape under his breath and the door on the right swung open. 'These are your living quarters,' he said to her. 'Your belongings have already been brought up.' He gestured for her to enter, and, after a slight pause, Lysia obliged.  
  
Unlike the doors, the interior of the first room was quite drab. There were three continuous shelves lining the walls at eye level, a polished oak desk in the centre and a matching high-backed chair lined with (what looked like) a soft, blood red cushion. She supposed this was to be her office. "For an office, she thought, it's actually quite roomy..." Lysia walked over to the single door at the back of the office and opened it.  
  
In front of her was what was obviously meant to be her lounge. There was a beautiful French-style window seat of deep green underneath one of the two windows, a marble-topped coffee table which, under closer inspection, showed that a chess board had been stained onto the stone, and a set of magnificent bookshelves up against one wall. There were only a few books in the book shelves, but that could easily be remedied - Lysia had plenty of her own books that she had brought with her.  
  
Just as she was about to proceed through the nest door, Lysia noticed that the floor was covered by an elegant carpet in a green matching that of the window chair. She knelt down and ran a hand over it. "It's so soft," she thought as she got up. Opening the next door, she entered her bedroom. It was nothing short of breath-taking. In the centre of the wall opposite the three windows lay a king-sized four-poster bed with silver hangings and a beautiful green and black spread. On each side of the bed, there was a bedside table, and on each sat a black candelabra with quartz jewels hanging from underneath each candle. Above each of the tables was a painting. The one on the right depicted the castle at sunset and the other showed a fierce lightning storm. Continuing to look around the room, Lysia saw that the three windows, sporting a beautiful view of the lake, were lined with blood-red curtains, and that attached to the ceiling was a black chandelier, holding at least 50 candles, and the right wall contained a wrought iron fireplace. This floor was covered in the same carpet as the lounge was and, as she turned to inspect the other room leading off from the lounge, she saw Professor Snape standing in the doorway to the office. She'd completely forgotten about him.  
  
'Thanks for showing me to my room, Severus,' she said, hoping that he hadn't noticed her surprise to see him still there.  
  
'Not at all,' he remarked, slightly raising one eyebrow. He turned to go, but thought better of it. 'I am curious, Lysia,' he said, turning back around, 'as to what happened at dinner tonight.'  
  
Lysia mumbled a response, which included the words "Voldemort", "bastard" and "punishment", before saying that she really was tired and was going to have a bath and go to bed.  
  
With a frown on his face, he pointed to the unopened door and said, 'Your bathroom's through there. And if you want to change the password for your rooms, just say the password you want as you close the door.'  
  
'Thanks,' she replied with a smile, 'I'll see you in the morning, then.'  
  
'Goodnight.'  
  
'Thanks again.' And with that, Professor Snape shut the door, leaving Lysia Moonwanderer to have her bath and go to bed. 


	2. Chapter 1 The First Week

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters, except for Lysia Moonwanderer (she's mine). I don't own any of the trademarks either. They belong to Warner Brothers and J.K. Rowling. This story is written purely for the enjoyment of myself and other HP fans and I have no intention of making any money from it.  
  
***AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story takes place in Harry's 6th year. Please review!! This is my first 'published' fanfic, and I'd like to know if it sounds any good to this point. THANX!!  
  
CHAPTER 1 : The First Week  
  
Lysia awoke in good spirits the next morning. She'd had a very good night's sleep, and that had become a rarity since the business with Voldemort had begun. It was still dark outside, but that didn't matter to her. By her calculations, it would be another three hours before sunup - just enough time to get in some decent training before the students and other staff members start to wake up. She dressed quickly and made her way down to the entrance hall. Upon reaching the doors, she heard a noise behind her and whipped around to find herself facing none other than Severus Snape.  
  
'You're up early,' he said, raising his eyebrows slightly.  
  
'Keeping in shape,' she replied lightly. 'But it's obvious that I'm not the only one up at this hour. Couldn't sleep?'  
  
Snape shook his head and sighed softly. 'Sleep isn't something I come by easily.' Lysia inclined her head and raised her eyebrows as an indication for him to continue, but he didn't. The silence stretched over a span of several minutes as they simply looked at each other, each second amplified in the as yet undisturbed air of the castle.  
  
'I'd better be going now...' 'I should let you go...'  
  
They both spoke at the same time, causing a slight, awkward pause before they both nodded curtly, turned their backs to each other and walked away.  
  
Lysia's head was swimming as she headed out to the lawn between the castle and the Forbidden Forest, the sound of Snape's receding footsteps echoing around her brain. Coming to a stop, she started to stretch, hoping that three hours of intensive training could take her mind off its quarry.  
  
***  
  
Five hours later, Lysia was showered and sitting down at her place at the High Table finishing her breakfast and going through her lesson plans in her head. To the background babble of the excited students in front of her, she turned to address Professor McGonagall.  
  
'Is Severus feeling alright? Only I saw him earlier this morning - I thought he'd be here...'  
  
'Oh, yes, he's fine. The Headmaster has just asked him to run some errands this morning before his first classes,' she replied. When she saw that this puzzled Lysia, she continued, 'Don't worry, he should be back by lunch.' Minerva smiled briefly and turned away to speak with Dumbledore, leaving Lysia feeling a little confused and slightly worried.  
  
Soon enough, though, all thoughts of Snape were chased from her mind as students began to drift off to their first classes. As she herself had one fairly soon, she excused herself from the table and made her way to her classroom on the fourth floor. There were already some students waiting outside the door, so, as Lysia passed, she smiled, asked them to wait outside until the rest of the class arrived and quickly went into the room to gather a few things she'd left there before breakfast in preparation for the class.  
  
By the time she'd finished in the room and made her way outside, the whole class was there, talking rather loudly amongst themselves.  
  
Projecting her voice so that she could be heard above the talk, she called 'Right!!' The class fell silent and she spoke normally. 'Before I check to see who is here and who is not, third-years, I'd like you all to head down to the lake as quickly as you can. Remember - be quiet so that you do not disturb any of the other classes.'  
  
They arrived at the lake with no major dramas, and Lysia began the class. 'Alright. As you may notice, today, all of the third years are here together. This will not happen every day. In fact, I doubt that it will happen again for a while. You are all here now to witness an astrological event that can affect the functionality of some spells - some involving Dark Magic, others which defend against it and some which have little or no relevance to this subject what-so-ever. Many magical people do not count this event as significant. Most who know about it disregard it completely and out the faults in the spells down to inaccurate pronunciation, incorrect wand movements and other such things.  
  
'You will most probably be the only group to actually see this, as it is can be quite rare or hard to see.' Lysia glanced down at her watch and continued. 'In about two minutes, you will be able to it. Then we will head back to the classroom to discuss it further. Now, what you are looking for is...'  
  
***  
  
Lysia's classes that day went so well that she didn't even notice that Snape had been missing from lunch and that some students in her classes were talking under their breaths about his absences from his own classes. By dinnertime, however, he still hadn't shown up, and even Dumbledore was looking preoccupied. She put her queasy feelings down to nerves and ate her dinner in silence, deciding that if he wasn't at breakfast the next morning that she would look for him, as she had no classes until mid- afternoon.  
  
After dinner, Lysia made her way back to her rooms, bumping into several students on the way. She had barely been so preoccupied, and it was beginning to annoy her. So, to keep herself busy, she fine-tuned her lesson plans for the whole month. It wasn't until one o'clock in the morning that she decided she was prepared enough for any disaster in her classes and went to bed. Lysia finally slipped into a fitful, restless sleep two hours later, only to wake at sunrise and pace around her rooms until breakfast.  
  
When seven o'clock finally came around, Lysia hurried down to the Great Hall. Snape was not there. Fighting down a wave of panic, she reasoned that it was still early, and that he would definitely turn up later. Her lack of sleep must have shown on her face, because as soon as Minerva McGonagall sat down, she barraged Lysia with a myriad of questions, mainly about her well being, during which Minerva must have guessed the reason behind her state of mind and finished by saying that she was sure that Severus was fine and would probably turn up for dinner in perfect health.  
  
But Lysia wasn't going to wait that long. As soon as the other teachers started to leave, she got up from her setting and exited quickly in a fashion that was, she hoped, not too obviously rushed. After about two dozen steps, however, Lysia stopped dead in her tracks. Where was she going to go? If she had any hope of finding him in the castle, she'd have to go about her search logically.  
  
'If I go from the North Tower down, covering each floor as I go,' she said quietly to herself, 'if he's in the castle, I'll find him. If any of the paintings have seen him,' she continued as she began to walk towards the North Tower, 'they can tell me, I'll be able to ask them all. If he's not here, it's off to Hogsmeade. If I have time,' she added as an after- thought.  
  
With a plan now firmly formed in her mind, Lysia began her search. It wasn't until she'd reached the third floor, having found nothing, that it occurred to her that the place he was most likely to be would be in the dungeons, not the upper levels of the castle.  
  
iSo much for logical/i, she thought. iWell, I may as well finish going down, otherwise I'll have to go all the way back up again/i. By the time Lysia got near the dungeons, lunch was drawing closer, there had been no sign of Snape and she was thoroughly annoyed with herself. Apart from all of this, she was beginning to get hungry (she hadn't eaten since dinner last night, and even then she hadn't eaten much).  
  
Nevertheless, Lysia continued with her search and began to head down to the dungeons. First she came to Filch's office. After knocking on the door, she stuck her head inside and saw Filch and Mrs Norris near the old desk in the middle of the room.  
  
'Seen Severus at all today?' she asked in a would-be casual voice.  
  
'No.'  
  
'Okay then. If you do though, tell him I've been looking for him, will you?'  
  
'I'll do that.'  
  
'Thanks.'  
  
The next few rooms were empty, followed by rooms with a Muggle Studies study group, a third-year Arithmancy class and a few students reading quietly, away from the hustle and bustle of the castle. Just ahead was Snape's main potions classroom. iHe shouldn't have a class in there at the moment/i, she thought as she pushed the door open with a soft knock. She was quite right - there was no class in the room. But Snape wasn't in there either. With a quiet sigh, Lysia closed the door and continued down the dark, slightly damp corridor to the entrance of the Slytherin Dormitories. Luckily, a student was just coming out of entrance, so Lysia called out to them.  
  
'Hey! You there! Yes, you,' she said as the student turned in surprise. 'Is Professor Snape in there?' she asked pointing to the doorway.  
  
'No, Professor.'  
  
'Okay, thank-you, you can go.' iOne place left to look/i, she thought. Her pulse quickened considerably as she approached the door to Snape's office. The door was slightly ajar, so Lysia pushed it open and walked in. Ignoring the collection of things in jars around the office, she looked quickly around office, saw that it was completely devoid of Snape and headed towards the door to the back of the room. She paused for the smallest time before knocking on the door. There was no reply, but she knocked again anyway.  
  
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Lysia opened the door (with some surprise, as this door was normally locked with powerful spells when Severus wasn't in) and walked into Snape's living quarters.  
  
There was no-one in the lounge, but a black robe had been flung over the back of a chair and another chair had been knocked over nearer to the door which should lead to the bedroom. She was considering checking in the bedroom when she heard a coughing coming from it. In three strides, she'd reached the door and was knocking on it.  
  
'Severus?' she said tentatively as she opened the door. There, on the bed in the middle of the room, was Severus Snape. Lysia, very much relieved to find him alive, walked over to the bedside and sat down. Now she was close to, he didn't look well at all.  
  
'Is there anything I can get you?'  
  
'What are you doing here?' he said, quite sharply.  
  
'I was worried, so I came to look for you,' she said with a smile. Snape just frowned at her.  
  
'I can take care of myself, thank you,' was the curt response she got.  
  
'Oh, I don't doubt that, not at all,' she said. 'I just...never mind.'  
  
'Well, now you've found me, you can leave.'  
  
'You sure I can't get you anything?' she asked, but at the look he gave her she said, 'Okay, okay, just asking!' She lingered a moment before turning her back to him and walking back to her own rooms.  
  
When she arrived at her office, it was lunch time, but she'd forgotten about her hunger. Lysia went straight to her desk, sat down, put her arms on the desk, lowered her head into them and cried.  
  
When Lysia finally sat up, with a very stiff back and neck, it was quite dark. Igniting the candles and the logs in the fireplace with a careless wave of her hand, she stood up and stretched. 'Note to self - don't fall asleep at the desk again,' she commented quietly to herself.  
  
She blinked as she made her way to her bathroom to straighten herself up before heading to the Great Hall to see if dinner had been served yet. Lysia looked into the mirror and was shocked to find that her hair was everywhere and her eyes made it obvious that she'd been doing some serious crying. So, with a few well chosen spells, she got to work making herself presentable.  
  
All of a sudden, she realised that she'd missed all of her afternoon classes and cursed loudly.  
  
'Are you already in there, Lysia?' cane a voice from her lounge. She cursed again, under her breath. The voice belonged to Dumbledore.  
  
'Yes, I'm fine, thank-you,' she called in reply. 'I'll be out in a minute, if you want to have a seat or something?' Finally, moderately happy with how she looked, Lysia went out to meet Dumbledore. 'What can I do for you Headmaster?' she asked, though she already knew what was coming.  
  
'You were not present at any of your classes today, yet many people saw you this morning - all over the castle,' he said. Lysia opened her mouth to say something, but Dumbledore was speaking again. 'You cannot continue to neglect your teaching commitments, Lysia.'  
  
'Yes sir,' she replied, looking at the floor. She was feeling very much like a small child who'd been told off for not doing her homework.  
  
'I do not wish to make you feel bad - I just want to remind you of responsibilities here.'  
  
'Yes sir. It won't happen again.'  
  
'Let us hope not,' he said, not unkindly. 'I don't enjoy giving these talks at all.' He paused a second be fore asking 'For curiosities sake, why were you absent?'  
  
'Fell asleep,' Lysia remarked in a small voice.  
  
'Ahh.' Thankfully, he declined to comment further, though she could only guess what he was thinking. 'I suggest you have something to eat - you missed dinner.'  
  
'I will. Thank you.'  
  
'I shall see you at breakfast tomorrow?'  
  
'Yes Headmaster.'  
  
'Until the morning then,' he said, and with a nod in her direction, he left Lysia in the silent solitude of her quarters. 


End file.
